52 Pick-me-up: Indigo / Gratitude

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I went to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve today.

It did not go as expected.

What does this have to do with this week's color/emotion prompt, Indigo / Gratitude? 
I'll get to that, don't worry. 

It was a beautiful morning, and I was looking for any excuse to procrastinate on finishing my taxes. 

ROAD TRIP!!!!! 

The drive up San Francisquito Canyon Road was lovely. 

I took a bunch of road photos (I'll post them on Flickr later) and entered the Antelope Valley with great anticipation. 

Then I got to the entry gate and discovered that I didn't have my wallet. 

OH NOOOOOOOOOO! 

That was not the worst part. Just wait.  

I took a selfie at the Reserve's entry on Lancaster Road, with it as a backdrop. 

Note the lack of poppies. [Chloe frames c/o Ditto]
Linking this up with Patti's Visible Monday.

I was on a mission to find poppies. 

CA Poppies. Done. 

Well, why not take some outfit shots and be a silly fashion blogger dressed inappropriately? 

Argh! You can't see my INDIGO pants!
You CAN see the DIY poncho that I made by cutting a hole in the middle of a throw blanket.
(As reported by Enid on Friday)

Alright, enough of that.

I was getting low on gas.

I contemplated the situation and decided to go home a longer, more well-traveled route.

Remember, I DIDN'T HAVE MY WALLET.

What I DID have was a change purse in my console for feeding parking meters.

(Thank you, Severo, for insisting that I have this).

$2.83 won't get me a gallon of gas. Trouble brews.

Also in my dash, I found a spare AAA card (they'll give you $5 of gas if stranded) and a jade amulet.
(The woman who gave it to me said jade gives "luck" to travelers. I needed all the luck I could get. I put it on).

I zeroed out the "mileage counter" to keep track of my miles.

Onward.

Fifteen miles later, the "very low on gas" light started blinking.

What did I do?

I stopped and took more outfit photos! 

Why not? It was a good field full of poppies! The best of the day!

Exiting the car, I found a bunch of burrs on my pants:

A good look, don't you think?It's known as a "3D" print.Now you can see the color of the pants.

Got the shot! Thank you wind!

I had cut the poncho's neckhole too big, so I cinched it in with a giant safety pin that I obtained in Austin, TX.
All that orangish field behind me is poppies. They were all closed because it was windy and cloudy.

It was 5 more miles to I-5, and 28 miles down (literally, so I was able to coast) the freeway I saw a bunch of roadside business. I parked to assess my situation. And scour the car for more change. 

Success!

I found the other change purse, it had some quarters in it!

I was now up to $4.30.

The Mobil station was charging $3.25/gal.

Could I find better?

I consulted the GasBuddy app.

Yes, a 7-11 across the freeway was listed at $2.99.

Even better, it was down to $2.74 when I got there.

That would get me 1.5 gallons.

I WILL MAKE IT HOME.

Thank you GasBuddy for finding me the best deal in town.

Thank you Prius for your great mileage.

Thank you amulet for your magical powers.

Thank you readers for indulging me!
Gratitude, it's a powerful thing.

Indigo / Gratitude -- link and tell!

An InLinkz Link-up

52 Pick-me-up: Closet Orphans | Ending 2013 at the Beach

PURCHASED/ PURLOINED/ GIFTED/ PRESS SAMPLES*/

Happy 2014, everyone!
Start the new year with a 52 Pick-me-up challenge. It's a weekly series that I started last June.
You can see all the prompts if you click on the menu bar tab up top.

This week, it's time to wear something old, something that you haven't worn for a year (also known as a closet orphan). You know you have such items. I do, in spades. I've got the "too small but still like" box.
I've got the "needs repair or revamp it" boxes.
I KNOW those boxes are full of things I haven't worn for a while, if ever.
Here's the one I dug around in:

I threw the contenders in a pile (yes, on the floor):

Hmmmm, that floral-paisley skirt might work

I bought this skirt at Savers in Austin in March 2012.
It was too small, but I got it anyway for the print, which I adore.

Look! If I wear it under my extremely huge turtleneck, no one can tell that it's riding up on my ribs!
(Please ignore the fact that I didn't press it and it's a wrinkled mess.)

All ready for work.
*little pink tuft necklace c/o Capwell & Co.

Ah, work on New Year's Eve. We were let out early.
Co-workers rejoice. Me, on the time clock, not so happy.
2.5 days of working will NOT pay the rent. So I didn't clock out. Maybe they'll pay me for a full day.

ANYWAY

Through forces beyond my control (OK, in the wrong lane on the 605),
I ended up going a different way home (105 vs 60/10 through dtLA).
So I thought, why not go to the beach and do some sort of end-of-year ritual?

GOOD IDEA!

I always gravitate to the Playa Del Rey beach. Easy to park is reason #1.

I wanted to find a rock, write 2013 in Sharpie, and hurl it into the Pacific.
No rocks, but this piece of "beach plastic" served well:

My one-take video:


Beachy glamor shot:

*sunglasses frames c/o Ditto

Do you perform any year end rituals? (Aside from NYE parties) Do tell!

Now, back to my challenge. What can you find that you haven't worn for a year?

V-Day Shenanigans

PRESS SAMPLE/ PURCHASED/ GIFTED/

Remember how I was kvetching about not getting comments on my outfits at work?
It took this! I snagged THREE!
Some thought it was for Chinese New Year.
Some guessed correctly that it was for Valentine's.

I wore this on Wednesday (2/13) because I don't go into the office on Thursday,so the confusion is understandable.
The Lucky tee is very old and getting faded.
I got the Chinese jacket in San Francisco's Chinatown.
I have not seen this style jacket in either LA or Hong Kong (circa 2004). Believe me, I have looked!

Here I am, sitting in my car at lunch.
Like my smiley blankie in the background? That's my sun shade.
Oh yes, FCC guidelines require that I say my sunglasses frames are c/o DITTO.
The prescription certainly wasn't c/o -- it cost me $650!!!

A close up that I Instagrammed. The necklace was made from a Slinky!
I got it at the Santa Monica Art Museum gift shop - they no longer carry them.
It didn't last on my neck all day. It started to drive me crazy.
The skirt was a dress in the morning. I hacked off the top as I put my ensemble together.
So much better as a skirt.

WOW! You get a close-up of the "torture" clogs and the pom pom socks.
The clogs I bought in a shopper's frenzy to wear to the Lucky FABB West last April.
They are too tight. This is the second time that I've worn them.
I deliberately sat at my desk all day and didn't fetch any color printouts.
Vickie gave me the socks from her church resale shop in Providence, RI.
I think they go great with the clogs. I was hoping they'd help stretch them out.

How about that? Head to toe info! I was a proper Fashun Blogger today!
All I'm missing are RED LIPS!

Don't miss the action over on Patti's Visible Monday!
How much red and/or pink will we see this week?

Speaking of Patti, she had a contest and I was the winner!
OMG!

I let you know what I think of it after I try it out.

And We Have a Winner!

In the DITTO (Sun)Glasses giveway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

CONGRATULATIONS Cody!

I virtually shower you with some vintage IBM punch card confetti

You can now remedy your sad sunglasses situation:

simulation found in Mar Vista

I can't wait to see which style you choose...

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter the giveaway and do the tasks requested.
A big welcome to my new followers -- you will find SpyGirl full of surprises!

DITTO (Sun)Glasses GIVEAWAY - [CLOSED]

And it's not just for the ladies:

I tried on a variety of frames during the past week. Here are a few of my favorites:

I think these checkerboard ones qualify as the most, um, eyecatching!

Even if you only answer the first question, you have a good chance of winning!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The (Sun)Glasses Dossier: DITTO Giveaway [CLOSED]

Hello world! I am a DITTO Style Visionary and am here to tell you about this new way to try on glasses.
This is a sponsored post.

I met the DITTO team at the Two Point Oh blogger picnic last Sunday.
They gave me this cool pair of Chloe sunglasses in exchange for a review.

Yes! Ivory with gold accents! C-R-A-Z-Y!!!Me likeeee.

DITTO is an ecommerce site that sells interesting designer eyewear. You create a DITTO avatar using your computer's webcam to "try" on the frames. It's super easy -- the hardest part is arranging your "set"!

"I'm sorry but, stripes? Did you not hear of moire?"

It helps to have some light shining in your face if your computer is in a dark cave, like mine.

I did a side by side comparison, modeling the same style of sunglasses.
On the left is my virtual DITTO. On the right is reality, using Photo Booth.
[Apologies for poor quality of video]

Here is my DITTO link, so you can see me bigger and better (and suggest other looks)!

"What about the giveaway?" you ask.
DITTO is offering a free $200 gift card to one lucky winner, US residents only. (International readers, you will have to find a US surrogate to receive your frames if you want to enter. DITTO only ships to the US at present).
You get 20 possible entries by using the Rafflecopter below. The giveaway will run from today (7/19) through midnight 7/28/12 EST. This will allow you time to take advantage of DITTO's "free Rx lenses" offer good until 8/2/12.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Blogger Picnic!

I donned one of my favorite tunics...

Loaded up my arm with blogger bracelets...

And made my way to Griffith Park, for the 3rd Annual Two Point Oh LA picnic.

Upon arrival, I spied a table laden with British tea treats (I especially liked the scones):

There were myriad tents with goodies and services:

Hairroin Salon was braiding hair
(I did not have enough... hair, that is)

Sole Society offered shoes

Très chic!
Gigi and I chose the same sunglasses from Ditto (see below)

Ditto had a very popular tent. They were giving out sunglasses to Style Visionaries.
Stay tuned for more on that!

It being a blogger picnic, there was posing:

Elizabeth of A Keene Sense of Style

and photography:

Our hostess, Kelsi of Dedicated Follower of Fashion, is on the far right in the cupcake dress.

And it being the park, we had the paleta guy!

It was a lovely afternoon. I had a long chat with Amy of A Sunny Day in L.A., did some quick sketching (next post), and snagged fabulous sunglasses (next next post). Thank you Kelsi, for a wonderful event!

Oh no! It's Monday already! May I have another day of weekend? Please?
Visit with the Visible Monday flock here.